Question

a man walks 10 meters in a direction of 20 degrees North of East, then 20 meters in a direction due west. What is his total displacement vector in component form

Answer 1

break this problem down to horizontal (x) and vertical (y) components! it'll probably help if you drew the problem out!

horizontal:
(10cos20) meters
20 meters
add the horizontal components together

vertical:
(10sin20) meters

perform Pythagorean theorem-
total displacement: sqrt[(horizontal)^2+(vertical)^2]

remember displacement is a vector so it also has direction! to find direction: tan^-1(vertical/horizontal)

Answer 2

opps! I forgot to put a negative in front of -20 meters under the horizontal component.